Tag: collaboration

Categories
Music Technology

JamBlaster lets anyone anywhere join together with the band

Playing music with someone is not only a fun and creative activity, but it also brings people closer together. Unfortunately, unless the people playing are actually in the same room, it’s almost impossible to jam out together.

The JamBlaster is one solution to this problem. Using an input device that connects instrument to computer, musicians are able to play their music to a Web site called JamKazam. This allows Mac or PC users to video chat with other musicians and play their music in real time. This way, everyone can hear what the other is playing and it’s super fast so there’s no lag.

JamBlaster’s campaign has some great examples of how well this product works, showing musicians in four different locations making music together. The whole concept of the ease of “plug and play”, as the campaign refers to it, is especially appealing to those who don’t feel like mucking around with software in order to get great sound. Interested backers can have their own for $199 by August 2015. JamBlaster is looking for $100,000 in funding.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Imaging

DotLens microscopic lens lets your iPhone see it’s the little things that matter

With our noses inside our phones, we neglect to remember the existence of the wondrous, microscopic world that exists around us teeming with unfamiliar life.

Now Dotlens wants to create a bridge for us in the form of a 15x or 120x pebble-sized lens attachment for smartphone cameras. Its resolution of one micron gives any smartphone the ability to take laboratory quality photos of all manner of objects and specimen, from the rocks strewn outside your door to the house ant crawling on your kitchen floor. When you’re done, share them instantly using social media or attach the smartphone to a computer or projector for real-time collaboration or teaching.

Smartphone microscope attachments have been a thing for quite some time. Products like MicrobeScope and Skylight represent what most of these products are like, transforming smartphones into bulky, stationary microscopes. You even have the choice to create a DIY version for around $10 if you were so inclined, but what none of these have is the ability to be attached and removed simply from a smartphone, expanding the range of subjects because of the increased portability. The price is similarly light: $25 will get you the 120x version, a pledge that will go far towards their $12,o00 funding goal.

Categories
Connected Objects Pets

Iota teams up with more of its kind to track anything

The Premise. Tagging something so that it won’t be lost can be done any number of ways, from something as simple to a tag with contact information to microchips and affixed GPS trackers. Now it’s time to know more than simply where something is; it’s time to know where it’s headed and what condition it’s in.

The Product. Iota is a small GPS tracker only slightly larger than a quarter that packs a lot of data processing power underneath its tiny hood. With the ability to be attached to any material, Iota can report the location of a pet, child, bicycle, or key ring. An alarm can be triggered through the Iota app in case it’s hiding in plain sight, and a variety of sensors can push notifications if something’s wrong. With an accelerometer and a temperature sensor, Iota can report if a dog needs to get out of the sun or can be put on a door frame to alert owners to someone entering their home. The Home Base attachment can be set up in a home and offers GPS tracking in four miles in every direction, and can also communicate with other Home Bases in the coverage area to cover even more ground.

The Pitch. Iota’s simple design aesthetic carries over into its pitch video, which chooses to demonstrate the different features of the device as opposed to being flashy or needlessly over-produced. The campaign itself covers the features of each of the unique profiles and how to set up an Iota more thoroughly to demonstrate how simple it is to keep track of the things that matter. Iotera, the maker of Iota, is looking to raise a whopping $250,000 to create molds, get the proper certifications, and go into production.

The Perks. An Iota with Home Base and accessories to attach it to any number of things can be picked up for $99 with a shipping date of January 2015. A second Iota tag is added to the package at the $169 level, and a third at $249. The tags and Home Bases continue to multiply as the reward tiers get more and more expensive.

The Potential. If Iota simply tracked, it would be easy to say that there are a number of other options that would do its job just as well, but because the device is flexible enough to be a pet monitor, a home security system, and more, Iota is an exciting prospect that deserves support, and once it hits the market, some lucky things may never go missing again.